Bolgatanga, (UE/R) Nov. 11, GNA - The Minister of Regional Co-operation and NEPAD, Dr. Kofi Konadu Apraku has charged border operatives and agencies in the Upper East Region to begin looking at new ways and open up by doing better than what they have been doing in the past.

He said, it is an obligation to find a niche within the global market that can actualised the potentials that we have and in the process move the nation and people forward towards greater prosperity. Dr. Apraku said, this when he addressed over one hundred border operatives and agencies at a day's regional workshop in Bolgatanga. They were made up of personnel of Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS), Immigration Services and the Police Service. Dr. Apraku observed that in this competitive and globalised world, the country cannot afford to be left behind.

He said globalisation imposes certain demands that require efficient and effective utilisation of resources and greater co-operation with the country's neighbours.

He said the process is irreversible and the country and the world stand at a cross road to look for opportunities to succeed, and urged them to learn more to be able for them to discharge their best. The Regional Minister, Mr Mahami Salifu in a speech was grateful to the Minister for opening the discussion on the ECOWAS Protocols on the free movement of persons, goods, services and right of establishment. He said the Upper East Region is the first point of contact from other Northern ECOWAS states, which position has a lot of implications for the border operatives and district assemblies along the borders. He appealed for a similar forum to be organised to put district assemblies along borders in a better position to facilitate and also derive maximum benefits from the integration of economies.